I Spy
by SoreninParis
Summary: Gakuen Alice is a secret school where orphans with potential are brought in to train and complete covert missions for governments all over the world. They were the perfect team until new recruit Mikan Sakura joins the group. She's slow, clumsy, and better get her act together, because the next thing that comes is permanent termination, code name for death. (FULL SUMMARY INSIDE)
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Welcome to Gakuen Alice, a secret school** **where** **orphans with potential are brought in to train and complete covert missions for governments all over the world. Natsume, Ruka, Hotaru, Sumire, Koko, Yuu, Anna, and Nonoko were the perfect team until new recruit Mikan Sakura joins the group. She can't assemble or shoot a gun properly, computers gives her headaches, and she's as clumsy as a baby taking it's first steps. She better get her act together, because the next thing that comes is permanent termination, code name for death.**

 **A/N: Hey everyone! Just a reminder that this story is rated T, NOT M, so if you think you're heading into mature category while reading, I assure you it never gets that far. If it does, I will change the rating to M and put a warning, but I don't see that happening. This was inspired by me watching Quantico and Nikita, which I will be borrowing aspects of, so DISCLAIMER ON THOSE SHOWS AND GAKUEN ALICE I OWN NOTHING. By the way this is some Natsume x Mikan, which is all I ever seem to write lol. Along with Sumire x Koko.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

"Nateeeee, stay for a little longer," Amber whined as she stoked his dark raven locks, leaning in for another kiss from her boyfriend of almost three months. Natsume softly kissed her back, pretending to be hesitant about staying the night, "You know if your dad comes home and finds me still here, I'm a goner."

The blonde giggled, Nate was so cute, always so worried about her father when he clearly wanted to be with her. She had been waiting a long time for a chance like this, a chance to finally go deeper in their relationship, "Don't worry about him," she smirked, tracing his jawline, pressing her body closer to his. Her red dress was curve hugging and low cut, any man's dream. She slowly leaned over, giving Natsume a perfect view of her cleavage. The two glasses of champagne inside her were giving her the courage to go for it, "He's out of town on a business trip, he won't bother us," she whispered seductively.

Bingo. Natsume suddenly got up, "I'm going to use the bathroom. Meet you in your room?" His tone was suggestive, a glint of victory shone in his fiery red orbs.

"See you there," Amber smiled as Natsume ran his fingers through his hair, leaving the room. His movement was so fast she couldn't see that he had shifted his hand to the right side of his ear, turning on a earpiece. Once he was out of earshot, he spoke steadily without missing a beat, "Anna I need you to turn off all cameras and replace them with pre filmed footage now."

Anna: "Already done _Nate_ , cute hair trick by the way."

Natsume scowled: "Call me that one more time."

Anna: "I'm not the one in enemy territory who needs directing."

Natsume: "Hmph. Stay alert."

Natsume: "Ruka and Sumire, Fidel is out of town tonight, this means security is increased around his little princess's room on floor 3 so avoid it at all costs. You know where to get in from."

Ruka: "Got it, I'm heading to Fidel's office, are you sure they won't notice I'm not the old guard?"

Natsume snorted: "Fidel's a dumbass, he wants advanced and tight security but hires over a hundred guards, it's impossible to recognize every single one."

Sumire: "He's so freaking old fashioned, keeping his money in a safe. Who even does that these days? Anna could have hacked an account in less than half the time it took to do this mission."

Natsume: "Is that a dig towards me?"

Sumire: "oooohhh Amber, I love you babe, you're so hot, BARF."

Koko's voice suddenly came onto the system, imitating Sumire, "ooooohhh Natsume, you're so cute, be mine, pleaseeeeee."

Sumire shrieked: "What the hell, Koko? How'd you get onto the system?"

Natsume growled: "Enough! We are in the middle of a mission. Everyone shut up and get back to work. This may be our only opportunity, so don't screw it up. I'm going to go subdue Amber."

* * *

Ruka ran down the hall leading to Fidel's office. He had already taken out the four guards stationed at the entrance of the elevator using martial arts pressure points. Ruka hated using guns and excessive physical force so many of his techniques were quick and silent, perfect for infiltration missions.

Another four guards up ahead. He walked up calmly, "Officer number #78 here to switch with #16."

#16 looked at him gruffly, "You look new. Identification?"

Ruka held up a card with his picture, reading Samuel Reeves with a chip on the bottom right corner.

#16 scanned it, the light flashing green. Good job Imai! Ruka cheered inside.

"Alright, I'm off for the night." The officer was halfway through taking off his rifle and lifting the gun out of it's holster when Ruka grabbed his gun and delivered a swift upper kick to his shoulder, knocking him out.

"Hey what are you doin—" #27 began to yell but was hit over the head with the butt of the gun.

"Drop the gun!" #45 had her rifle trained on Ruka. One hand was on the trigger, and her other was moving towards the alarm button on the wall a few inches next to her. This was a dangerous situation. If she managed to shoot him and sound the alarm, not only would Ruka be going down, but Natsume, Sumire, the whole mission would be jeopardized. Ruka couldn't let that happen. He lunged forward, ducking under the woman's arm as she fired the her rifle. Missed by a centimeter. Ruka tackled her to the ground. She was struggling; kicking, biting, and scratching. Should he permanently apprehend her? In a split second decision, Ruka decided to spare her, and tasered her with his stun gun, leaving her unconscious. He dropped her onto the floor, reaching in his pocket for a container of white powder. He shook some out onto a sheet in his palm and gently blew it onto the keypad. Designed by their team's forensics expert Nonoko, it was supposed to use oil from fingerprints and chemically react with the buttons, giving the digits and exact sequence of the combination. The lighter the powder, the more recent it was used, so Ruka would have to start with the darker buttons. 9-3-2-5-6. He entered the code in apprehension. The door clicked open.

* * *

Sumire Shouda was a bitch when she was in a hurry. She let no one who got in her way go unscratched. Anna had informed Sumire that the entrance to the basement of the house, where the safe was located, was guarded by three men, along with twelve more strong men below. Obviously there was no way Sumire could take all of them out by force, but that wasn't her plan tonight.

Alexander Fidel was married, but that didn't stop him from going after beautiful women. He had affairs with many and Sumire was disguised as one of his "concubines." She acted drunk, stumbling around the front of the basement elevator with a wine bottle. The guards rushed to help her, eager to play heroes to the damsel in distress, "Miss, are you okay?" one asked, the other two helping her stand up straight. "Mmmmmm," she slurred, hoisting herself up on them, "accidentally" digging her nails into their arms, leaving behind a translucent substance. "What's going on—" one guard began to scream as both collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Nerve juice. It seeps into your body and attacks your nerves, making you feel enough pain to immediately blackout. As for the last guard, she simply cracked his head open with the wine bottle.

The next part of the plan was the most dangerous. The large ruby necklace Sumire wore around her neck was fake. Inside the gem was a lethal amount of Sarin gas, which when inhaled, would also attack the nervous system, with death occurring one to ten minutes after inhalation, depending on the conditions of the room and quality of the air. Sumire entered the elevator, and closed the doors. She put on a black mask, also designed by Nonoko, which would protect her against the gas. She smashed the ruby open and pressed the down button. They would know someone was coming, so she needed to act quickly.

 _Ding._ The door opened. Five guards looked inside to see— darkness? No, there was someone there, "On the ceiling!" one guard yelled. But it was too late. Her daggers had already impaled him. Others rushed to fire their guns, but Sumire was quicker, she shot her machine gun, a high speed weapon designed by Hotaru, with 70 rounds per second. The four were all dead in less than 10 seconds.

The other half of the guards heard the disturbance and came running towards Sumire's direction. "Shit, come on gas, do your magic," she prayed. Her prayers seemed to be answered, because just seconds before they reached her, the guards began coughing, dropping to the ground like flies. Sumire sprinted past their bodies towards the vault. She brought out a vial containing purple liquid from her bra. Using a titanium rod, she drew a circle on the vault with the liquid. It sizzled and sparked, cutting into the steel door, leaving a hole just big enough for her to crawl through.

Yuu had warned that stealing the money might take too much time, as good as it would have been for Division's funds, if she didn't have enough time, she had to just burn the entire safe. Sumire hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

* * *

Natsume knocked on Amber's door. "Coming!" Amber yelled from inside with a sickly sweet voice. The door opened to reveal her in a lacy black Victoria Secret nightie that reached just below her butt. Her light hair was up in a messy bun, and Natsume could see she put in a lot of effort to achieve a natural no makeup look with plenty of makeup. Natsume tried not wrinkle his nose as he stepped inside the room. She had on the expensive perfume he, well actually Anna, had brought her for Valentines day. Amber had said she loved it, and commented on it's antique, exquisite aroma. But Natsume thought it smelled like chemicals from Nonoko's lab and old people.

Before Amber closed the door, she addressed the ten guards outside, "Don't disturb us," she ordered icily before slamming it shut and locking it.

Natsume hadn't even made it far inside before Amber grabbed him and began kissing him. He hated the taste of her lipgloss. He had to put up with her for three months. Her high maintenance life, screechy voice, fake personality, parading him around to her friends, Natsume was glad to be done with her after tonight. But thanks to him, their team was able to complete this mission. Natsume had done everything from requesting a tour of the entire house from Amber so he could draw a layout for Ruka and Sumire, to planting listening devices everywhere and trackers on Fidel's cars.

Did Natsume feel sorry for what his team was about to do to Fidel's family? Not in the slightest. Amber needed to grow up and learn that not everyone had everything handed to them on a silver platter. Natsume certainly didn't.

Now she was unbuttoning his shirt. Thank god he wore the shirt with the tight buttons. Amber's long witch nails weren't helping her case either. She was stuck after the first two. "Nate, take your shirt off," she commanded. _How am I supposed to when you're clinging onto me like a leech?_ Natsume sighed in annoyance. He hoped Ruka and Sumire were almost done.

After his shirt came off, Amber slinked onto the bed, her eyes inviting him in. He had no choice but to get on, slowly getting on top of her like he was enjoying it. _Stall by kissing her!_ He continued to make out with her, wanting badly to cleanse his mouth at least ten times after this was over. Amber wasn't having it, she took his hand and put it on her one of her breasts. Fake. It felt like plastic to Natsume.

She was about to take off more of his clothes when suddenly the security alarm went off, blaring. "What's going on?!" Amber yelled, hearing loud bangs on her door from the guards. "Nate, we need to go to the underground tunnel I was telling you about, whatever this is, we'll be safe there," she started getting up and moving towards the door.

"No!" Natsume yelled, pinning her arms down against the wall.

"Nate, I get it, you want to make love to me, but there's an emergency, we have to go!" Amber screamed, thrashing against his hold.

"No _Amber, you_ don't get it. My name isn't Nate, I don't want to have sex with you, and I'm aware there's an emergency," Natsume said coldly. He couldn't help but add, "My team _is_ the emergency."

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3— Realization struck her hard. "You— Your— YOUR TEAM?!" Amber stammered, her face turning red with rage, "So this was all fake? Our entire relationship was fake?" she shrieked.

Natsume didn't respond, snapping a pair of handcuffs onto Amber, chaining her to the bedpost.

"I TRUSTED YOU. I LET YOU INTO MY HOUSE, I MADE SURE THE GUARDS DIDN'T BOTHER YOU. I MADE SURE YOU WERE ON DADDY'S GOOD SIDE. I WAS GOING TO LET YOU TAKE MY VIRGINITY. YOU FUCKING BASTARD," Amber howled, bashing against the side of the bed.

"Thanks," Natsume said emotionlessly as he tied two bed sheets to the chair by the window, letting them out the window onto the ground.

"DROP THE SHEETS AND LOOK AT ME," Amber suddenly had a gun in her hand. She had hid it under her bed for self protection, and was currently aiming it at Natsume, sobbing hysterically, "APOLOGIZE YOU BASTARD. KNEEL AND TELL ME YOU'RE SORRY. BEG FOR MERCY."

Natsume glared at her. He burst forward, snatching the gun out of her hands, dismantling the safety trigger and pressed it to the side of her head in less than second, "Shut up. Do you know the power of weapons? If you're going to fire a gun, learn how to properly use it first. Be prepared for the feeling of guilt, of regret, the second you pull the trigger," He leaned closer, making her flinch, "learn the consequences of your actions, learn the worth of every single life. Oh wait, you already know. You know all about your father's business right? In fact, aren't you taking over soon? Thousands of children, working as _slaves_ in his factories. What for? All for his entitled, air headed daughter. Buying more clothes, makeup, a nice new car huh? More face surgery? A new beach house? That's a hundred more lives gone right there," He scoffed, throwing Amber onto the ground. "You should be begging me for _my_ mercy. Killing you solves a lot of problems. Your life for thousands of others. What do you say?"

Amber was silent, convulsing on the floor with a dazed look on her face. Natsume sighed. Child slavery was only a fraction of Alexander Fidel's wrongdoings. Hopefully the files Ruka collected will give them more information on his other dealings, but he had to get out soon or the guards would be on him. Before climbing out the window, Natsume looked at Amber one last time, lying pathetically on the ground. Bye Bitch.

* * *

 **How was it? I've never written action scenes before because they're really hard for me to describe haha. The next chapter will be up soon, thanks for reading! :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This chapter took a while to write and I feel like 4,000 words is pretty long, but I hope you all enjoy :)**

Everyone cheered as Natsume, Ruka, and Sumiere walked into the main hall of headquarters. Natsume and Sumiere smirked while Ruka thanked Anna, Nonoko, Koko, Yuu, and Hotaru, who were all standing beside Anna's desk. Anna took a plate of cookies out from her desk drawer, "Victory cookies! Dig in everyone!" Natsume refused to eat any, since he hated sweet things, Sumiere didn't want to gain weight, Hotaru thought cookies were unhealthy, and Koko always ate a lot for dinner, so it was up to Yuu, Ruka, and Nonoko to finish the entire plate every time while the rest opened beer and had a party. The celebration was short lived, however, when their supervisor Narumi's voice came over the intercom, calling for everyone to meet on floor five for a debrief of the mission. The group made their way to the room grumbling, ticked off about the interruption.

"Hand over the bottles, none of you are legal drinking age yet," was the first thing Narumi said when the eight entered the room. All complied except Natsume, who chugged the rest of his beer and handed it over to Narumi. "What? You said hand over the _bottles_ ," Natsume said nonchalantly.

"Hahah our Natsume is so cute! Always making funny jokes!" Narumi cooed, which brought a look of annoyance to Natsume's face while the rest of the group laughed.

"Anyways, let's go over the entire mission from start to finish. Natsume, you were in charge of infiltrating the Fidel mansion by dating the daughter Amber Fidel undercover as Nate Walker, heir of multimillionaire Katherine Walker. You were able to successfully build a map of the mansion, bug the house, wire certain phones, figure out the security system, and place trackers on Fidel's cars. Now you see why I chose you to go undercover instead of Ruka. Amber is a tough girl to deal with, right?"

He was met with a reluctant hmph.

"Okay... so Ruka, you were assigned to infiltrate Fidel's office and make a copy of all his secured files. Thanks to Hotaru's help with that and her design of their identification cards, along with Nonoko's powder, you were able to successfully retrieve all the information available and exit without notice. Sumire, you were tasked with getting to the safe and retrieving the money, which I get was not an easy one person task. You successfully took out all the guards with help from Nonoko's nerve juice and sarin gas, and transported the money out to the van thanks to Natsume's detailed system of underground tunnels and Hotaru's money magnet machine that sucked all the bills out for you. But an alarm was triggered from the gas in the air, which no one could have predicted, so don't hold that over yourself okay?"

Sumire nodded.

"Koko and Yuu planned your escape routes and course of action for the best possible outcome. Anna monitored all of you inside the mansion, and was able to hack into their system to avoid detection. Thanks to you all, we now have $371 million dollars added to our funds, and information on five other dealings Fidel has been involved in, which will be handed over to the FBI to handle."

Everyone was proud of the completion of this mission, but also extremely exhausted. They all started to leave to go to bed, but Narumi wasn't finished, "Hold your horses! I have more to discuss with you all." This was usually the end of the debrief, unless something from the mission went extremely wrong or there was news Narumi wanted to deliver.

"What's this about Narumi? I need my beauty sleep," Sumire complained as she let out a huge yawn.

Narumi looked excited, "I'll show you." He tapped a few combinations into the keyboard next to him, and the wall beside them opened up to a giant screen that displayed a room. Inside was the same layout as all recruit rooms, a white desk, dresser, mirror, and on the white bed was a girl in a white night gown. She was asleep, sprawled on her side in a fetal position, her long curly sun kissed brown hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, acting as a protective barrier between her and the outside world.

Anna gasped, "Is she a new—"

"Recruit? Yes."

"But she's so old for a new recruit," Yuu observed.

"How old is she Narumi?" Ruka asked, also curious.

"She's 17," Narumi replied.

Everyone was shocked. The oldest recruit they've ever had join was 16, and she ended up failing and being... disposed of. Usually recruits would start joining when they were around 11, and continued until they reached 19, then transferred to the FBI or CIA. They were split up into age groups to train. 11/12, the first form together, 13/14, the second form together, 15/16, the third form together, and 17/18, the fourth form together. All new recruits had to catch up with the level of training in their form in under two months. Starting from age 15, recruits were required to complete missions as a team. Their team had started off with Sumire, Koko, Anna, and Nonoko at year 11, joined by Ruka and Natsume at year 12, and Hotaru and Yuu at year 14, both of which were fast learners, and were able to keep up with their training. But this, this girl was 17? Was she some newly discovered genius?

"I know she's much older than usual recruits, but she was recommended by one of my best sources so we'll have to see how she does. She'll be training with you all starting tomorrow. I've already briefed her about the rules here, and warned her about the consequences of failing training. Be good to her," his last comment was a warning. The team didn't tolerate new members easily. It had taken Hotaru lots of blackmail and Yuu much ass kissing and favors to be finally accepted. Narumi glanced at her peaceful slumber as he shut the wall down. _Good luck Mikan._

* * *

"Rise and shine Mikan!" a gentle voice rose Mikan from her sleep. She stirred, rubbing her eyes, adjusting to the bright light Serina had turned on. "Here's your schedule," Serina handed her a file. "Thank you," Mikan said softly. On the document it read:

 **Mikan Sakura**

 **Age: 17 (Form 4)**

 **6:00 AM - 7:00 AM Endurance Training: Long distance running**

 **7:15 - 7:45 AM Breakfast**

 **7:50 - 9:00 AM Computer Skills: Decoding**

 **9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Combat Skills: Upper body offensive**

 **11:15 AM -11:45 AM Lunch**

 **11:50 AM - 3:00 PM Agility training: Gymnastics**

 **3:00 PM - 5:00 PM Weapons: Shooting practice**

 **5:15 PM - 5:45 PM Dinner**

 **5:50 PM - 9:00 PM Free training time**

"It's already 6:45 AM so just go to breakfast okay? We expect you to be on time tomorrow. Here's an alarm clock," Serina placed a small box onto the nightstand. "You know how to get to the dining hall?"

 _I think so..._ "Yes."

"Alright, I will be seeing you at agility training," Serina said as she left the room.

Serina seemed nice, Mikan thought. But she knew not to trust anyone here. What kind of place _kills_ you if you don't succeed? _I need to pass training. Failure is not an option._

* * *

Mikan got dressed in a white tank top, a black sports bra, black leggings, and black sneakers with white details. The dresser and closet in her room were full of new clothes. And the creepy thing was, everything fit her perfectly. The bras were exactly her cup and band size...

The brunette ran her fingers through her hair, deciding to go with two dutch braids. Doing her hair was her favorite part of the morning. She took it as a moment to relax, getting ready to face the day. Mikan gazed at herself in the mirror. Her hazel eyes looked dull, not to mention there were large purple bags under them. Her face was paler than usual. She desperately wished to see the sun, but she had been underground for days, with no knowing the next time she'd be able to step outside, if ever again.

Mikan stepped outside her room. The eerie click of the door seemed to have a feeling of finality to the whole situation. She walked down the dimly lit hallway. She hated how there were no colors here. Everything was either black or white, with gray to spice things up. She pressed the up button, waiting nervously as the floors on the display rose, finally reaching hers, four.

The elevator opened. Inside was a boy with spiky dirty blonde hair. He had a blank look on his face as he stared at Mikan. She walked in silently, avoiding his gaze and stood rigidly on the side farthest away from him.

"Floor?"

 _Wait what did he say?_ Mikan had been so keen on being ignored by everyone she came in contact with, she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings. She felt like a bug, tiny and helpless, in danger of being squashed any moment.

The boy raised an eyebrow and repeated himself, "What floor are you going to?"

Mikan blushed furiously, "Oh! Floor seven. That's the dining hall right?"

He nodded, his dark brown eyes never leaving her face. It was almost as if he was analyzing her. She gulped. She had been warned about Gakuen's mentalist. He was the main interrogator, and was said to be so good at reading people, he could penetrate their minds with a single glance. Was this boy him? He opened his mouth to say something, but the doors opened and Mikan darted out before he could. She needed to stay away from him.

* * *

The dining hall was different than Mikan expected. Yes it was black and white, but it was loud, noisy, even rambunctious, one could say. There were energetic conversations and laughter. She had thought that everyone here would be quiet and keep to themselves. That was what orphans did.

Mikan couldn't help but notice all the looks she was getting. She figured this school had around forty, fifty kids. A newcomer like her in here was like a dolphin dropped into a shark tank. She didn't dare to look back at anyone, quickly getting in line for food. The food looked... good? A bowl of oatmeal, freshly sliced strawberries and bananas, scrambled eggs, and a glass of milk, the perfect balance of complex carbs and protein. Mikan grabbed a set of utensils and sat down at an empty table. Part of her hoped someone would sit down with her and the other part of her wanted to build a wall so no one could come near.

Mikan unwrapped her utensils and began shoveling food in, staring down at her plate when she felt someone standing in front of her. This wasn't good. She looked up. It was a girl, she couldn't have been older than 15. Her hair was cut into a blonde lob, and her muddy blue eyes were narrowed, her face in a scowl. "You must be the newbie." Mikan didn't answer. The girl flared her nostrils, sitting down next to Mikan, "I'm asking you a question." _Maybe if I keep ignoring her she'll think I'm mute and go away._ That wasn't the case.

"Bitch I'm asking you a question!" The girl raised her voice, slapping Mikan's tray in anger. It slide across the table, her food crashing to the floor. Now everyone's attention was on them. And the girl knew it, raising her voice so the whole room could hear, "I heard you're 17. You think you're so great huh? Joining the school so late. I've been here since I was eleven training my ass off, and you just come in here, allowed to do missions already? You think you're better than everyone else?" she asked, a look of pure hatred in her eyes. When she got no response, she started laughing hysterically, "We'll see how you do here. I bet you won't even last a week, what do you think Momiji?" she asked her red haired friend sitting at the table next to them.

Momiji snickered, "Koume, she's so frail and tiny, like a little mouse," Her beady black eyes bore into Mikan's. "We eat tiny mice like you," her lips curled as she grinned maniacally. She got up from her table, eying Mikan as if she was her next meal. Momiji resembled a viper, ready to strike at any moment. She took one of Mikan's braids in her hands, tugging on it gently, then a little harder, until she full on yanked it, pulling Mikan's head down, slamming her onto the table. "Whoops," Momiji said as she put her hands on her hips, daring Mikan to do something.

Mikan's head was ringing from the impact. Her original plan was to lie low, and avoid being noticed by anyone. Look how well that worked out. They told her she needed to blend in, and if someone did try to target her, she needed to switch to standing out, and standing up. She needed to show everyone here she had a backbone, and wouldn't be easily pushed around. Mikan got up from her table, and pushed her chair back, staring at Momiji. "I don't think I'm better than you. You know I didn't choose to come here. Do you think I was just hiding myself, waiting for the perfect time to come to show you I'm better than you? Listen to yourself. You've probably been on a mission before, shot a gun, hacked a system, whatever you all do here. It's obvious to anyone who has a brain that I don't _think_ , and I'm _not_ better than everyone else. Please sit back down before you get yourself in trouble, there's no fighting in the dining hall remember?" Mikan's tone was that of a mother talking to a misbehaving child. She didn't how she summoned the courage to talk back to Momiji. Something had come over her, giving her the strength to stand up to herself. It was her desire to stay here, her desire to succeed, her desire to survive.

The two girls knew when they had been beaten, shooting daggers Mikan's way before stalking out of the room. Everyone had been watching them, and Mikan didn't know if she was being too confident, but there was something new in people's stares. A look of approval, acceptance maybe? Although there were still a few lingering looks towards Mikan, most had turned their attention back to their tables. _Good. Now that I've established myself as someone who won't be pushed around, hopefully no one will bother me anymore._

Mikan picked up her fallen food, scooping everything onto the tray. She began walking towards the trash before she noticed Koume and Momiji's trays, carelessly left behind. _How are they going to be good agents if they can't even be good people,_ Mikan thought angrily, as she began scooping their food into one big pile and stacking the bowls.

"Here, let me help you with that," a boy with golden blonde hair and light blue eyes started lifting the stack of bowls onto the tray for her.

Mikan blushed, "Thank you, it's really not necessary though, I can carry everything just fine."

The boy smiled, "I'm sure you can," he said, continuing to assemble everything. Strangely, there was not a hint of sarcasm in or condescending tone to what he just said. He sounded like he genuinely wanted to help Mikan.

"Well, I guess it's okay, as long as this isn't a ploy to give me another concussion," Mikan joked.

He laughed loudly, "Nope, just a ploy to get to know you. My name's Ruka Nogi by the way."

She chuckled, "Nice to meet you, I'm Mikan Sakura."

They made their way over to the dish dispenser, dumping the leftovers into the trash and placing their trays on the rack.

"You're heading over to computer skills, right?" Ruka asked as they headed towards the elevators.

"Yeah, except I just realized I have no idea how to get there..."

"I'm going there too, I can show you?"

Mikan beamed, "Thanks Ruka-pyon!" _Shoot._ Why didn't she control herself better? They had said to never be overly friendly or eager. She apologized frantically, "I'm so sorry, when I said Ruka, the next thing that popped into my head was pyon, like a rabbit, _not,_ that you remind me of one, I think it sounds good but you think it's stupid so—"

"Ruka-pyon. I like it," he grinned, telling her to not to worry about it and that she could call him that anytime.

 _Mikan Sakura._ He could tell today would be an interesting one.

* * *

The "fight" scene from the team's point of view:

Sumiere, Hotaru, and Nonoko entered the dining hall. They got their trays and sat down at their usual table, where Ruka, Natsume, and Koko were already present. It was the table in the center. There was an unspoken rule that it was the one reserved for the seniors of the school, because you really did have to earn it. Seniority was earned, never given.

"Good morning people," Nonoko greeted, sprinkling some salt on her eggs.

"Good morning?" Sumire said incredulously, "We have a mission, stay up until 1 in the morning, and then we have to wake up for a freakin run at 6, it's a shitty morning! I look like hell," Sumire moaned.

Koko was picking at his fruit, "You don't look _that_ bad—ow!" Sumire slapped his arm, "No one asked you!" she snapped, angrily taking a bite of oatmeal.

"Can you both quit it? it's too early for this," Natsume barely managed to sleep two hours last night, or morning. He had had those dreams again. Nightmares. They woke him up, trapped him in their cage, keeping him up till his alarm rang. He was not going to sit through another bickering session between Koko and Sumire. The two obviously wanted to be together, Natsume couldn't see why they didn't just tell each other how they felt.

"I'm going to clear my stuff," Ruka said, gathering his tray and walking away. Natsume smirked. Unlike him, Ruka solved his problems in a more non confrontational way.

"Bitch I'm asking you a question!"

The gang was suddenly made aware of the scene occurring at the table a few feet away from them. It looked like third former Koume had decided to pick a fight with the new recruit. Koume was 15 and they had heard that she went on her first mission a few days ago. Apparently she went in overconfident and almost jeopardized her entire team.

"I heard you're 17. You think you're so great huh? Joining the school so late. I've been here since I was eleven training my ass off, and you just come in here, allowed to do missions already? You think you're better than everyone else?" she asked, a look of pure hatred in her eyes. When she got no response, she started laughing hysterically, "We'll see how you do here. I bet you won't even last a week, what do you think Momiji?"

"She's just bitter," Hotaru commented, calmly sipping her milk. It was true. Koume's team said she had been furious after the debrief, muttering about how everyone else was incompetent. She had been banned from the next mission, and now she was clearly taking out her anger on newbie.

Momiji snickered, "Koume, she's so frail and tiny, like a little mouse. We eat tiny mice like you," her lips curled as she grinned maniacally. She got up from her table, eying the girl as if she was her next meal. Momiji resembled a viper, ready to strike at any moment. She took one of the girl's braids in her hands.

"This looks bad, we gotta help her," Nonoko said, starting to stand up, but Hotaru held her arm, while Natsume motioned for her to sit back down. "What are you guys doing?" Nonoko asked, confused.

"She's the newbie," Hotaru said.

"So?"

"We can't fight her battles for her," Natsume said, "She needs to prove she's worthy of being on our team. We can't have a weak link."

"I saw her in the elevator, she was so timid and—" Koko started to say, but then trailed off. _She seemed to be hiding something._

"If we help her, we'll just make her seem weaker to everyone, that's the worst thing you can be here," Sumire added, "Let's just see how this plays out."

Nonoko wasn't happy, but she sat back down, silently agreeing with her teammates.

Momiji tugged on the brunette's braid gently, then a little harder, until she full on yanked it, pulling the girl's head down, slamming her onto the table. "Whoops," Momiji said as she put her hands on her hips, daring her to do something.

It seemed like the girl was not going to do anything. She had been quiet the entire time, the team wasn't sure what to make of it. Was she just going to let Momiji, a third form kick her around? Was she perhaps smart, wanting to avoid conflict and punishment? Or stupid, letting everyone's first impression of her be tainted by Koume, making her seem like a weakling?

Suddenly, the girl got up from her table, and pushed her chair back, staring at Momiji. "I don't think I'm better than you. You know I didn't choose to come here. Do you think I was just hiding myself, waiting for the perfect time to come to show you I'm better than you? Listen to yourself. You've probably been on a mission before, shot a gun, hacked a system, whatever you all do here. It's obvious to anyone who has a brain that I don't _think_ , and I'm _not_ better than everyone else. Please sit back down before you get yourself in trouble, there's no fighting in the dining hall remember?" her tone was that of a mother talking to a misbehaving child. Koume and Momiji knew when they had been defeated, stalking out of the hall in embarrassment.

The gang turned their attention back to the table.

"Damn," Nonoko said, slightly impressed.

"I wouldn't be so excited just yet," Natsume warned, "she may have been smart this once, but that means nothing if she can't pass training."

"She seems to have no prior fighting skills," Hotaru observed, "What she did may have seemed smart, but it's the only thing she could have done considering she had absolutely no way to defend herself. I wouldn't call her smart, just not stupid."

"It's strange seeing her personality shift so quickly," Koko said, "she seemed so gung ho about laying down low and not saying a word before. She's a hard one to figure out that's for sure."

"We'll be with her in a few minutes and the entire day," Sumire reminded, "we have all the time in the world to see what's she's really like."

"Unless she fails training," Nonoko said grimly.

The table was silent. There was the possibility. There was always the possibility of failing training. For everyone. For seven years they've trained, and they could be failed any moment. Sure they had a two month pass or fail benchmark when they first got here, but that was just a benchmark. Every moment after that, they were required to keep up or be disposed of. It kept people motivated. Who wouldn't when their life was on the line?

"Well let's hope it won't have to come to that," Natsume replied.

As the crew started clearing their table, all had one thing on their minds, will the new girl pass or fail?

* * *

 **Let me know what you think! Anything I could work on?**

 **Question of the day: If you could have any super power, what would it be? (Inspired by me seeing Wonder Woman today haha)**

 **I would have the power of healing any disease, whether that be emotional or physical.**

 **the fangirl who lived 15: Me too! Thanks, I'm glad the pace of the action worked for you :)**

 **Guest: Thank you! Happy you enjoyed it!**

 **Vilchen: Hopefully you liked this chapter. I really tried to plan out their battle so I'm really happy you liked it!**

 **Elimina Alice: Thank you so much! I love you!**


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